By this warrant, a Board of Commissioners was appointed, consisting of the Commander-in-Chief, the Secretary at War, the Master-General of the Ordnance, the Quartermaster-General, the Adjutant-General, the Governor, and the Deputy-Governor of the College,—all for the time being. Certain other officers were added to these ex officio members. In the Board so constituted were vested the control, direction, and management of all the affairs of the College. The College was to be under the immediate command of the Governor and Deputy-Governor, to be divided into a senior and junior department, each to have its own course of study, under its own staff.
A collegiate board was created to take cognizance, of all matters relating to the interior economy of both departments. This board consisted of the Governor, the Deputy-Governor, and three other resident military authorities.
The Royal Warrant of the 27th May, 1808, for regulating all matters relative to the Royal Military College, states the objects of the two departments of the College, as follows:
The Senior Department of the Royal Military College is established for the purpose of instructing officers in the scientific parts of their profession, with a view of enabling them the better to discharge their duty when acting in command of regiments (the situation in which they can best recommend themselves to Us, and be entitled to hope for advancement in the higher stations of Our service), and, at the same time, of qualifying them for being employed in the Quartermaster-General’s and Adjutant-General’s Departments.
The Junior Department of the Royal Military College is appropriated to the instruction of those who, from early life, are intended for the military profession, and who, by this means, may be grounded in science previously to their obtaining commissions in Our army.
This department of the College is also intended to afford a provision for the sons of meritorious officers, who have fallen or been disabled in the service of their country, and the means of education to the sons of those officers who belong to Our regular service.
The first of the departments organized was thus the Senior Department, which was established at High Wycombe, in 1799, although it would seem that classes for the military instruction of officers had been in existence previous to that year. The origin of the Senior Department is thus described in the evidence given by Sir Howard Douglas before the Select Committee on Sandhurst:
General Jarry, who was the first Commandant of the Senior Department, was a Frenchman, highly educated in France, who entered the service of Prussia a short time before the commencement of the Seven Years’ War, and was on the personal staff of Frederic the Second through the whole of that war. He returned to France, and became afterward one of the generals of the French army; and, in the year 1795, defected from the French army, and came to London, where he soon became very generally known as a man of eminent talent, perfectly master of the science and the practice of his profession, and, from his having served so long about the person and on the staff of Frederic the Second, full of the most interesting anecdotes and instructive details connected with that war. General Le Marchant, having formed an acquaintance with General Jarry, in London, it occurred to him that, if General Jarry could be engaged to give lectures to a certain number of young officers Who might be disposed to go and reside where the general might attend, it would be very advantageous to the service. General Jarry was so engaged. A house was taken at High Wycombe; a considerable number of the rising young officers of the day became his students,—Sir George Murray, Sir Henry Bunbury, Sir Richard Bourke, General Richardson, and a great many others. General Jarry soon found that the rudiments of military science in the British army were not sufficiently known to enable all the students to profit by his instruction, and recommended that mathematical, and fortification, and other classes, should be established; and, accordingly, Mr. Dalby, a mathematical professor, M. St. Denis, professor of fortification, and M. Polchet, of the Polytechnic School, were engaged; and in this Way the Senior Department was established.
General Jarry became commandant of the establishment on its institution, and, in 1804, Sir Howard Douglas himself was appointed to assist General Jarry, as superintendent.
The formation of the Junior Department had probably been determined upon from the time when the Senior Department was established. It was actually organized in 1801, when it was established at Great Marlow, and, in the year 1803, consisted of 200 cadets; the Senior Department being, at the same time, composed of 30 students. Each department had at this time its own commandant, superintendent, and special staff of instructors (7 for the Senior, and 19 for the Junior Department); while there was, in addition, a general staff, consisting of a governor, lieutenant-governor, and other officials, for the two departments, which, although in separate localities, together constituted the Royal Military College.